Ryan Brands Himself 'Gen X' While Pitching Medicare

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Paul Ryan is only 42, the same age as Mitt Romney's eldest son Tagg, and in an interview today he tried to sell and explain his Medicare plan by mentioning that fact.

"Well, Larry, as you know, I'm in the under 55 generation, from the X-generation," Ryan told CNBC's Larry Kudlow in excerpts released early from an interview to air this evening.

Kudlow asked Ryan about younger people not liking his signature health care plan because although it doesn't touch Medicare for those over 55 it does overhaul it for those younger than 55. Ryan has said it's the only way to save the program from bankruptcy, but Democrats say seniors could end up paying thousands more.

"The proposals we're advancing are bipartisan proposals," Ryan said. "It has bipartisan support in Congress today. It's an idea that came from Bill Clinton's 1999 commission to save Medicare. And it's an idea that says you get a list of guaranteed coverage options… You choose among these competing plans, including traditional Medicare, for your comprehensive Medicare benefit. And then Medicare subsidizes your premiums based on who you are-less for the wealthy, more for the middle income person, and total coverage for those who are low-income and sick. This is choice and competition."

Ryan also previewed his convention speech for Kudlow:

"We believe we owe the country an alternative to the path the president has put us on. It's a nation in debt, in doubt, and decline. We want to get back to the American idea that opportunity society with a safety net, a society of growth, of opportunity, of upper mobility. And I want to spell out exactly what that means, what the American idea is, and how we plan to retrieve that and get us back on the right track," Ryan said.